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6Sep/110

How To: Make a Coffee Dump/Bash Box – on the cheap

So, these past few weeks have been all about Coffee and making things... I make no apologies for that :-) I love both making things and coffee... and in a few days i'll probably have made something else coffee related. The past few things i've made have involved using my 3D printer, but this time i've gone back to the more traditional tools...

  • Hot Knife
  • Scissors
  • File
  • Dremel
  • Silicone sealant
Yeah... pretty basic stuff here :)
So I figured, bashing my portafilter against the side of the sink is probably not an ideal way to get the spent grounds out of the basket... My friend suggested i went to Moore Wilson and buy one of their Dump/Bash Boxes. So I went off to go buy one.
The smallest one (which is all i needed) was $50 - which is a bit much for what is essentially a glorified toilet pipe with a bit of wood through it... and on that thought, I left Moore Wilsons and went to the plumbing section in Bunnings Warehouse.

Slightly related sign that was up when I was entering...

So I spent about $20 all up on a pipe and a tube from bunnings...

Pipe!

Tube! (I already cut it down to size before taking this photo, but it cost about $6 for a metre)

I then marked across the bottom section of the pipe where i wanted the tube to slot into and then used my hot knife to cut out a rough half moon shape. Used a file to clean it up best I could, then finished it off with the dremel to make it smoother

Slot Cut

As you can see below, the tube fits quite nicely into the slot i cut out. Although in it's present form, the tube slides around on the groove.

Getting its groove on

The next picture is just to show you the general idea of how it'll be used.

General Idea...

Obviously the above is a bit rough and bashing spent grind into this will just make it fall out the bottom, so

 

Circle on clear plastic sheet

With it cut out, i needed to attach it to the bottom of the pipe and make sure it was water proof, so this stuff works a treat:

Sealant

Sealant applied

Next, asthetics:

Spray painting it a coppery colour

Find something suitable for a stand (I found an old VESA monitor back) - glue on a grippy material to the grooves to stop the tube sliding around (also helps to hide rough dremel work) and....

Almost done

Last step is to put the tube in place, and set up for a posed shot pretending to use it in action...

Finished!

 

That's all folks!

Filed under: coffee, e61, fixer, maker, me, money, science, technology, tools No Comments
2Sep/114

How To: 3D Print Kitchen Implements

If you're a regular visitor to my blog, you'll know that not too long ago with the money from a competition my friends and I were able to purchase a 3D Printer

You'll also know that just 2 weeks ago I purchased an ex commercial espresso machine for my home

Anyway...I decided that i'd design a couple of handy tools for the Espresso Machine and print them out on the 3D printer. So, I designed a holder that clips onto the side of my Espresso Machine that... holds the Tamper.

I also designed a stand to put the portafilter on as I tamp (with a groove in it for the spout on the portafilter) I designed them in OpenScad - which is a CAD tool for programmatically minded people like myself :)

Tamper Holder

Tamping Stand

I've also uploaded the Source Code to these to Thingiverse under the GNU public license:

  • Tamper Holder on Thingiverse

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    difference() {
 cube(size = [60,65,5], center = true);
 cylinder(h=13, r=29, center = false);
 
}
translate ( [0,32.5,17.5]) {
 cube(size = [60,3,40], center = true);
 translate ( [0,2,18.5]) {
  cube(size = [60,5,3], center = true);
  translate ( [0,3,-3.5]) {
   cube(size = [60,2,10], center = true);
  }
 }
}

     

  • Tamping Stand on Thingiverse

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    difference(){
 cube(size = [50,60,60], center = true);
 translate ( [0,0,-10]) {
  cube(size = [40,50,60], center = true);
 }
 translate ( [0,-20,19]) {
  cylinder (h=13, r=15, center=false);
 }
 translate ( [0,-35,30]) {
  cube(size = [30,30,140], center = true);
 }
}

     

I present to you the finished products:

 

Tamper Holder in the flesh

 

Tamping Stand in the flesh

What do you think? Have any other suggestions for some other kitchen implements I should design?

Filed under: coffee, e61, fixer, internet, maker, me, opinion, science, technology, tinker, tools 4 Comments
28Aug/116

Plumbing in my Expobar Espresso Machine

So, for the love of coffee, my fierce mistress, I got myself an ex-commercial espresso machine from a Coffee Roaster friend of mine:

@MachiattoNZ

 

It's a Spanish-made EXPOBAR with a single e61 grouphead, boiler with pressure stat, heatexchange and a built in burr grinder with doser. It's actually a pretty awesomely spec'd machine. I have no idea what model it is, and i can't find any reference to it on the internet, which is kind of rare. So this post will hopefully also serve to give this machine the web presence it deserves! :)

Obviously it's a machine that requires plumbing in, so after a trip to MasterTrade in Wellington (and $150 later) I had all the parts i needed to plumb it in.

These two pipes go to the mixer faucet on the kitchen sink, I needed to tap into the cold supply.

With one of these Hex's...

...a T-Junction & some Teflon Tape... we have:

A T-Junction with 2 males and a female, with the Female (Hex end) ready to go on:

A Teflon wrapped mains supply pipe (which until recently was connected directly to the faucet mixer)

ProTip #1: Before removing the braided hose leading to the supply pipe, it would help to turn the water mains off first... that is unless you are a hippo and enjoy wallowing in water ^_^ - it'll look something like this:

Supply Control

So, connect it all together and what have you got?!:

This is the final setup, bottom is the water supply, top leads to mixer and middle goes to the Expobar's pump

ProTip #2: Tighten it all really really well to make the rubber seals in the braided hoses serve their purpose, otherwise you'll end up with a leak, something like this:

The braided hose connection to the machine was not tight enough at first so there were a few drips :)

 

So that's the supply done, we also need to connect up the waste water...

Waste

 

The waste pipes under the sink had an empty header so connecting it in was an easy job... no pressure ;) (ha pun!)

 

Warming up a rubber adapter pipe to help it fit snugly into the spare waste header...

 

and it's connected :)

 

A shot of it all finished and plumbed in ^_^

 

And now some shots of accessories, and some of the first extractions i did:

 

Nice wooden handled Tamper ^_^

 

 

Naked/Crotchless Portafilter

Portafilter with some coffee in it ready to extract

One of my first extractions, wasn't bad, regardless it was one of my first so ^^

Latte Art: Not my forte... Practice makes perfect ;)

Since taking these above photos, i went into Moore Wilson on Tory Street and found some nice looking cups and saucers:

Moore Wilson's Cups and Saucers

 

So i bought a couple ^_^

 

That's about all I have for now, feel free to comment and ask questions as you please ^_^

Filed under: coffee, e61, fixer, maker, technology, tinker, tools 6 Comments
   

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